


What Came After All That Hell - Vol.2

by itsnicsalad



Series: Aftermath [2]
Category: Heathers: The Musical - Murphy & O'Keefe
Genre: Gen, a little continuation from the other fic, but she's nice, cuz i dont lol, heather duke is still a bit of a bitch, how do tags work on this site??, jamie boy is back, mcnamara is a treasure i dont write about her enough, sometimes, this isn't how prison visits are meant to be executed but who cares?, this one is significantly longer than the previous story so uh, though you don't have to read it in order to understand what goes on here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:15:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25049017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsnicsalad/pseuds/itsnicsalad
Summary: Veronica gets visited by her friends while serving time behind bars. She's not liking it, but you know, whatever.
Series: Aftermath [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1808053
Kudos: 4





	What Came After All That Hell - Vol.2

**Author's Note:**

> Wanted to get this done before my trip down to Rotorua on Sunday :))
> 
> I don't know what else to write here, this isn't really a direct continuation from the other story I wrote, this is just me rambling about stuff ig ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯  
> also my social studies teacher read my stories and she says she loves them a lot and that made me warm and fuzzy on the inside anyway enjoy lol

The dim sunlight shone through the cracked windows as we trudged into the waiting room. It was almost empty, save the burly man sitting at the front desk with dead eyes and a coffee in hand. I thought it was a bit weird, but I figured no one would want to keep in touch with criminals in this district.  
I walked up to the desk, Martha Dunnstock by my side. She eyed Mcnamara, who had plopped herself down on one of the leathery couches against the wall with twiddling thumbs. I cleared my throat:  
“Excuse me, sir. We, uh, have a scheduled visit for Veronica Sawyer....”  
“Check.”  
“Excuse me?”  
The man motioned towards the bag slung over my shoulder, his face motionless.  
“Oh, um, it’s just books in there sir,” I said as I emptied the contents onto the desk. “From school.”  
With a low grunt, the man rose from his seat and headed towards the door on the right. I slid all the books back into my bag and nodded at Mcnamara as she stood up.  
The three of us wordlessly trailed behind the man as we made our way through the narrow hallway. The walls were coated with muted greys and browns, it was hard to tell which, the electrical lights suspended from the ceiling weren’t very functional.  
“Sir? Don’t we all need to be checked before visits?” I heard Martha ask. She didn’t get an answer, unless you count a faint grunt as a response.  
“God, it’s so quiet here,” Mcnamara whispered, nudging my backpack. I could hear the uneasiness weaving through her words.  
“Yeah, it is….” I peered into the numerous cells that lined the walls. They were all empty. “Where are all the prisoners?”  
By now we’d realised we weren’t going to get anywhere, so we stayed silent. After twisting and turning through the never ending corridors, we came to a halt. I could hear the sound of a clicking pen from the cell on the left. I could immediately tell we’d reached Veronica’s cell. Her constant pen clicking during class was annoying to me at first, but the pattern soon etched into my mind. It sounded melodic in a strange way. Thoughts raced through my head, flashbacks to when I would sit next to her in class counting the clicks, with the teacher’s words fading to nothing but static background noise.  
Click. Click. Click.  
“Won’t hesitate to throw you lot in there.” The sudden booming of the man’s voice caught me off guard. “You fuckers try anything, you’re all dead, understood?” He brushed the taser gun fastened to his belt. I flinched.  
I’m guessing he took our terror-stricken faces as an answer. He turned on his heels and strode down the hall, leaving us alone in the flickering light.  
“Jesus, finally,” I mumbled. I hadn’t realised Mcnamara was gripping my shoulder tightly until she released her hold. I peered through the cast iron bars, scanning the dark room. There was a small window on the back wall, slipping in the tiniest bit of light, just enough to make out a silhouette sitting on the floor.  
“Veronica!”  
She may have been confined to her cell for 2 weeks, but she didn’t look any different, at least to me. Her hair was messier though, like it had been before she joined the Heathers, and the rings around her eyes stood out against her pale face. Veronica looked up, her eyes lighting up at the sound of her name being called by a familiar voice. Rising to her feet, she strode towards the door, wearing a knowing smile. “I can’t believe you actually came.”  
“Of course we did,” Mcnamara chirped, grasping Veronica’s hands in her own. “There’s no way we would’ve survived without checking up on you!”  
“I bought some Jiffy Pop from the market downtown,” Martha added, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a bag of popcorn.  
“We had to buy it from the sketchy stall at the end of the strip since 7/11 was all out.” I wrung my hands. “So I apologise in advance if it’s poisoned.”  
“Like hell that’s gonna stop me,” Veronica retorted, flashing another one of her sly grins. She grabbed the bag, peering over our shoulders. “I see Duke’s not here with you guys.”  
“I asked her if she wanted to come, she said no.” Mcnamara shrugged. “But she told me to tell you she said hi. I think that’s what she said anyway.”  
“Really now?”  
“Heather cares about you V, she does,” Mcnamara said, flattening out her skirt, “But it’s still gonna take her some time to wrap her head around, you know…. everything.”  
“Yeah I know.”  
Her gaze flickered to my bag. “You guys come straight from school or what?”  
“Huh? Oh, no. That’s uh....” I stumbled over my words, teeth gritted. “That’s the other reason we came.” I looked over at Martha and Mcnamara, who both kept silent. “How else should I put this? Uh, the school…. kinda still wants you to do work.”  
“You’ve gotta be shitting me.”  
I kneeled on the concrete floor, emptying the contents of my bag in front of her. I met her gaze, looking at her as if to say “I’m sorry”.  
“Oh fuck off!” Veronica shouted, kicking the iron bars. She hurled the bag of popcorn onto the springy mattress behind her.  
“Keep the noise down Sawyer goddamnit!” I heard the man’s voice echo from down the hall, ringing in the air.  
“Shut the hell up Kevin!”  
Veronica started pacing back and forth, her head in her hands. “God it’s like this school hates me or something. Can’t I catch a break? Jesus….”  
I rolled down onto my knees, startled at her response. She looked up, her eyes tired and weary.  
“S-sorry you guys had to see that,” she mumbled, flopping onto the mattress.  
“It’s fine V.” Mcnamara stepped forward. “You have every right to be mad.”  
“Damn right I do….”  
Veronica slid off the mattress, kneeling on the ground. “I hate this.”  
“If you want we could go,” Martha suggested, hands clasped behind her back, “If you want to be alone that is.”  
I watched as Veronica crawled over towards the bars, reaching her hand through the gaps and picking up the books. “Yeah,” she said weakly, “That would be nice. Sorry for wasting your guy’s time....”  
“It’s fine, really. Don’t worry.” I stood up, slinging the bag over my shoulder. Mcnamara started ushering us away from the cell. “We’ll come back soon, promise.”  
“Mmh.”  
She glanced up, catching my gaze for a split second, before turning around and heading towards the back wall. My face fell. I didn’t like seeing her upset. She had never been the type to show genuine sadness like this. I guess her time behind bars had changed her.  
I kept my head down, hands in pockets, as I slowly tread behind Mcnamara and Martha. The light outside had darkened and the air in the waiting room was chilly. The Kevin man was nowhere to be seen. We parted ways at the crossroad and I slowly strode back home, thoughts swirling in my head.

“Back again kid?”  
“You know where to find me,” I said as I walked past the desk and pushed the door wide open. I dropped the milkshake I was drinking into the bin beside my feet.  
It took a few visits for me to memorise the halls. I didn’t have to worry about the others keeping up with my fast walking pace, as I usually came alone. Don’t get me wrong, Martha and Mcnamara were nice, but I didn’t really know them that well.  
The cells were still empty, but sometimes I’d hear angry shouting in the distance, causing me to shudder. I can’t imagine how loud they’d be if they were confined in these cells….  
I made my way to Veronica’s cell, where Martha was already sitting on the ground, flicking through the pages of whatever new novel she had stumbled across.  
“You’re early,” I said. Dropping my bag, I kneeled beside her, and started fishing for my pen and paper.  
“Had a doctor’s appointment so I got to leave early,” Martha replied, peering up from her book. “Heather’s got cheer practice today so she couldn’t make it.”  
“Oh that’s fine. We can still do work right?”  
“Nah, we can’t,” Veronica piped up. “Nice to see you could make it Jamie.”  
I could tell she was still kinda pissed by all the schoolwork she had to do, but lately she's been learning to deal with it. I smiled.  
“Wait, what do you mean ‘nah’?”  
“She took the history notes with her,” Veronica shrugged, picking at a loose thread on her orange jumpsuit. “And there’s no way in hell we’re rewriting all that shit.”  
“Oh, uh, do you wanna work on something else then?”  
“Fuck that noise.” She grinned. “I’ve just been sitting here listening to Martha ranting about her stupid book for half an hour. It’s very entertaining to watch, might I add.”  
I shuffled up against the wall, cross legged. “I would’ve loved to see that.”  
“I’m sure Marty wouldn’t mind starting from the top.”  
Veronica earned herself a slap from Martha after she’d heard the nickname. “Shut up.”  
Despite that, she stood upright and began to ramble. I zoned out the first few minutes, but soon became fully immersed in her words. I never really paid attention to Martha, she was always just known as “that weirdo” in class. It was only after laughing out loud at a few of her comments did I realise she was actually kinda fun to be around.

The best thing about visiting on weekends is that I could visit any time without having to worry about school schedules, and I could stay as long as I wanted.  
We got in a bit of trouble for bringing in food for Veronica the first time around, but I managed to sneak in some packets of corn nuts for lunch.  
"This all I get?"  
"Like I'm gonna bring you a whole damn meal," I shot back, grinning. "You should be thankful I was able to bring you those corn nuts. I swear Kevin's been watching me more closely lately."  
"Only cuz it's his job. He doesn't give two shits if you ask me."  
We shared a look before bursting into fits of laughter. If anyone were to pass by they probably would've thought we were high. It was like we were in our own little world, our voices echoing off the walls of the empty corridor, alone together.  
“Uh, hey.”  
I quickly whirled around, eyes wide. I hadn’t realised how loud we’d been.  
The rigid figure standing in the hallway took a reluctant step forward. Her bright green blazer stood out against the muted background, arms hanging behind her back.  
Veronica smiled. “Thought you’d never come to visit.”  
“Yeah, whatever," Duke sneered, crossing her arms. “You should be grateful that I came in the first place.”  
Her stare faltered, and for a split second I could see the softness behind her cold exterior. I cleared my throat and reached for my bag. "I'll leave for you guys to catch up."  
"You sure?"  
"Yeah, promised my pop I'd be home soon." I glanced over at Duke, who wordlessly rolled her eyes.  
"Guess we'll see you around then. You're still coming on Monday right?"  
"Wouldn't miss it."  
I started to make my way down the hall, throwing one last discrete look over my shoulder to see Duke quickly pull Veronica into a hug.

Maybe I am still crazy for being hung up on Veronica. Maybe it was never meant to be. But just being able to spend time with her and cherish those moments was enough for me.  
The last few days she spent in her cell were days spent laughing with friends, downing bags of snacks and carving graffiti into the walls. Making our mark.  
I liked hanging out with our small group. The only 'friend' I'd had for the majority of high school was Neville, and I haven't heard from him since our fight. But Veronica and her friends, they made me feel happy. She made me feel happy.  
The day she was released we went to celebrate at the new cafe that had opened up recently down the road. Even Duke tagged along as well. She and Mcnamara brought enough money to order all of us entire meals, in which Veronica wolfed hers down in just a few bites. Guess those corn nuts really weren't enough for her.  
To think all that Heather-JD drama was only a month or two ago is still a bit jarring to me. It was a dark time for everyone, especially for Veronica. Things were constantly changing. I was honestly kinda worried for her, scared that she wouldn’t be the same. Well, she’s not the same. But she came out of it all changed for the better.  
And I think that’s beautiful.


End file.
